Languages

LANGUAGES

Gateways to Culture 

Languages at MLCA are gateways to cultures, beliefs, and traditions across time and the world. Latin grounds students in classical antiquity and illuminates the deep structure of English and the literary tradition that they encounter throughout the curriculum. French opens doors to one of the world's great literary traditions and to a living language spoken across five continents — in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas, and the Pacific. 

Studied together, these languages form a coherent and mutually reinforcing program: students discover how Latin shaped French and English, how grammar and syntax reveal the logic of thought, and how command of language deepens expression and understanding in every subject.

FRENCH

French at MLCA begins in kindergarten with conversation, songs, and stories. In the lower grades, students build oral fluency through games, poetry, and song. As they advance, they study grammar, literature, and poetry, moving from adapted classics to original works by authors such as Molière, Verne, Maupassant, and Zola. In the upper school, students read Camus, Sartre, and other authors whose work reflects the full breadth of the French-speaking world. High school students prepare for the AP French Language and Culture exam, which requires engagement with Francophone cultures across five continents.

Beginning in fourth grade, students work toward the Diplôme d'Études en Langue Française (DELF), an official, lifelong certification of French proficiency for non-native speakers, awarded by the French Ministry of Education. Most students sit the B1 exam in seventh grade, though students who are not yet ready are encouraged to wait until eighth grade. The B1 exam requires a student to demonstrate functional communicative competence and is required for primary and secondary school study in a French-speaking country. Students who pass B1 may then prepare for and sit the B2 exam, which requires nuanced, effective expression across complex topics and is required for university study.

Lower School French Curriculum

Upper School French Curriculum 

LATIN

Students begin Latin in fourth grade, building a strong foundation in grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. Through Latin, they encounter the Roman worldview — its distinctive ways of ordering time, space, and human experience — while developing a deeper appreciation for the roots of the literary and linguistic tradition they study throughout the curriculum. By seventh grade, students read authentic Roman prose and poetry. From sixth grade onward, all students participate annually in the National Latin Exam.

Lower School Latin Curriculum

Upper School Latin Curriculum